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| Iran |
| Tehran’s violent protests spread |
| 2003-06-13 |
| More details coming out: A third night of student protests outside Tehran University's dormitories exploded early on Friday into the surrounding middle-class neighborhoods, with large gangs of students fighting running street battles against vigilantes armed with sticks and chains. At one major intersection, demonstrators hurled bricks at trucks of riot policemen who were rushing to lift barricades and douse fires that protesters had ignited in the streets. The protesters chanted "Death to Khamenei" a slogan that can bring a jail term in this country, where Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader, goes unquestioned. "I've been lashed, jailed for having a satellite dish," said one student, underscoring the simmering social frustrations behind the riots. "It's time to stand up for what we want." In a nationally televised speech on Thursday, Khamenei accused the United States of trying to foment disorder here and warned protesters that the government would be merciless against those acting in the interests of foreign powers. Referring to the United States, he said: "If it sees that disgruntled people and adventurers want to cause trouble, and if it can turn them into mercenaries, it will not hesitate in giving them its support." The protests are erupting as a nervous government is trying to forge a policy toward the United States in the face of renewed pressure from Washington. The fact that they are being fueled by calls to pour into the streets from opposition-run Persian-language television stations in the United States adds to the unease. "Leaders do not have the right to have any pity whatsoever for the mercenaries of the enemy," Khamanei said, addressing a crowd in the southern city of Varamin. The public ignored the admonishment, participating in the largest street demonstrations to erupt in this capital in four years. Joining the students were some older government workers and even traditional women dressed in the sweeping black cloaks favored in poorer neighborhoods. Given the difficulty of moving about a city beset by traffic jams and violent clashes, it was impossible to get an accurate count of the number of demonstrators. But the demonstrations stretched at least five kilometers, or three miles, from the dormitories where the first quiet protests began on Tuesday, so the protesters appeared to be in the thousands. It was a far wider display than on two previous nights. Control of key intersections switched back and forth between protesters and the often black-clad vigilantes, paramilitary thugs believed to be linked to the government. Vigilantes on motorcycles in many cases ditched their vehicles and attack private homes. Sometimes the students would get their revenge, and at one point they separated a lone vigilante, wrestled him off his motorcycle, pummeled him and then torched the vehicle. Witnesses reported similar scenes of beatings up and down a major road leading to the dormitories. Civilians limped away after being beaten, although one woman extracted an apology from an assailant by screaming, "Hitting a woman! Aren't you ashamed?" People from heavily Westernized northern Tehran tried to drive into the downtown area to the scene of the riots, creating enormous traffic jams. "We want more freedom," said one 34-year-old government worker, Mahmoud. Nevertheless, he said he doubted the demonstrations would bring down the regime, because the riots were too random and lacked any organized backing. Seems to be getting bigger, it needs to spread to other areas of the country before it reaches a tipping point. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 I'm willing to bet that most of the "vigilantes" are Palistinians and Syrians imported by the mullahs more for a willingness to crack heads than for their piety. |
| Posted by: Hodadenon 2003-06-13 14:00:10 |